1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical outlet of the type mounted in a wall outlet box. More particularly, the invention relates to an electrical outlet which is adapted to simultaneously accommodate at the same time two plugs, each having a set of ground and electrical contacts.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
Many electrical appliances have a multi-conductor cable attached to an oblong-shaped plug. The cable usually contains two wires for the current and a third wire for grounding the appliance. The conventional plug has three prongs, one for the ground contact and two for the electrical contacts. An oblong-shaped plug is often used to relieve strain which may be caused by bends or twists in the cable where it is attached to the plug. Depending on the configuration of the prongs, the plug is either in a horizontal or vertical position when it is inserted into an outlet with the cable being close and parallel to the face plate of the outlet. With the cable in this position, the likelihood of damage to the cable or accidents is reduced.
Conventional electrical outlets of the type specified above are generally described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,688,239 and 2,618,677. The disadvantage of using the type of outlet described in these patents is that in most instances, only one three prong plug can be used at a time even though the outlet contains two receptacles. When attempts are made to use two plugs at the same time, the shape of one plug usually interferes with the insertion of the second plug into the unused receptacle. This problem has been addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,075. The patentee chose to solve the problem by changing the configuration of the plug. It is, of course, an inconvenience and an expense to change existing plugs to the type described by the patentee.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved electrical outlet which is suitable for use with conventional three prong plugs.
It is another object of this invention to provide an electrical outlet which is capable of simultaneously accommodating more than one conventional three prong plug at the same time.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished as set forth in the following summary of the invention.